Bombings leave 16 dead in, around Iraqi capital

Iraqi security and medical officials say at least 16 people have lost their lives and more than three dozen others sustained injuries when a series of bomb explosions ripped through residential neighborhoods in and around the capital, Baghdad.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Thursday’s deadliest attack took place in Baghdad’s southeastern neighborhood of Zafaraniyah, where seven people were killed and 18 others wounded in a car bomb explosion.

The force of the explosion damaged a number of cafés and restaurants in the area. Separately, a bomb targeted a pickup truck carrying pro-government volunteer forces in the same district, killing two fighters.

Earlier on Thursday, a bombing struck a commercial street in the capital’s western neighborhood of Baiyaa, killing three people and wounding nine others.

A bomb near an outdoor market in Baghdad's western al-Furat neighborhood also killed two people. Elsewhere in the town of Mada'in, located about 20 kilometers (14 miles) southeast of the capital, a bomb detonated close to a café, killing two people and wounding 11 others.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks. However, Iraqi officials usually blame such assaults on the ISIL Takfiri terrorists.

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq says a total of 1,466 Iraqis were killed and another 1,687 wounded in acts of terrorism, violence and armed conflict in June. According to the UN mission, the number of civilian fatalities stood at 665. Violence also claimed the lives of 801 members of the Iraqi security forces. A great portion of the fatalities was recorded in Baghdad, where 324 civilians were killed.

The northern and western parts of Iraq have been plagued by violence ever since ISIL Takfiri militants began their march through the Iraqi territory in June 2014. Army soldiers and volunteer fighters have joined forces and are seeking to take back militant-held regions in joint operations.